1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle device, such as a vehicle AC generator mounted on a vehicle and connected to a vehicle-side connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to a structure of a vehicle connector connection portion of an AC generator (auxiliary machine provided in an engine room) in the related art, a first housing is formed of a terminal holding portion, a tubular hood portion protruding from a front surface of the terminal holding portion toward a tip end, and a tubular regulatory portion protruding from the front surface of the terminal holding portion on a more outer peripheral side than the hood portion toward the tip end, all of which are integrated into one unit and made of a synthetic resin material with excellent heat resistance. The hood portion surrounding a tip end of a male terminal metal fitting attached to the terminal holding portion is fit in a space between a terminal storing portion provided to an engine-side connector (wire harness) and a tubular fitting portion surrounding the terminal storing portion, so that the male terminal metal fitting and a female terminal metal fitting in the terminal storing portion are connected to each other.
The tubular regulatory portion externally fits onto the tubular fitting portion all along the circumference, and thereby regulates relative displacement even when the tubular fitting portion undergoes deformation toward the outer periphery due to high temperatures. Hence, the tubular regulatory portion prevents rattling between the housing and the connector in a reliable manner (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Also, a fitting structure is described by way of example with another connector. According to this structure, while a female connector and a male connector are properly fit together, the female connector is regulated so as not to fall off by a connector attachment plate and an electric component provided with the male connector is regulated so as not to fall off by an electric component attachment plate (instrument panel). The respective attachment plates are made of a synthetic resin material and formed by integral molding. The respective attachment plates are fit together elastically by a fitting protrusion and a recess (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2013-4376
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-9-55262
In the AC generator in the related art, the tubular regulatory portion of substantially the same shape as the outer peripheral shape of the hood portion is externally fit to the tubular fitting portion all along the circumference. However, the both are fit together at a tip end of the tubular fitting portion and most (outer periphery) of the tubular fitting portion is in a free state. Vibrations that the vehicle AC generator mounted on the vehicle undergoes are considerably large depending on a model and the vehicle AC generator fails to endure the vibrations by merely fitting the resin members together. Hence, it cannot be said that fine sliding-induced wear between the terminal metal fittings is perfectly suppressed.
On the other hand, in an example in which the connector is fit to an attachment plate, because the attachment plate is large for the connector, when the connector undergoes large vibrations, it is likely that the attachment plate absorbs the vibrations.